SC appeals court reinstates The State’s lawsuit against LR5 school district. Here’s why

Bristow Marchant
·2 min read

The S.C. Court of Appeals has reinstated The State Media Co.’s lawsuit that claimed a Midlands school district violated South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act.

A panel of three judges unanimously found that now-retired circuit court Judge Alison Lee should not have dismissed the complaint brought by The State’s senior editor Paul Osmundson. Lee dismissed the case because a hearing was not scheduled within 10 days of Osmundson’s request for a summary judgment, as required by the FOI law.

The ruling revives a lawsuit filed almost three years earlier against the Lexington-Richland 5 school district after the school board approved a resignation agreement with former Superintendent Christina Melton without a public vote. The agreement paid the reigning S.C. superintendent of the year $226,368 to leave over disputes with board members. Osmundson’s suit contends this violated the Freedom of Information Act’s requirement that public bodies hold votes in open meetings.

After the lawsuit was filed, the board approved the resignation agreement in public. The lawsuit also asked that meetings of the school board’s executive officers be open to the public. After the lawsuit was filed, the school board also opened up those meetings.

Judge Paula Thomas, joined in the decision by Judges Stephanie McDonald and Letitia Verdin, wrote in the ruling that the 10-day requirement is meant to benefit the plaintiff in receiving a speedy resolution to their complaint, and not to be used to punish a member of the public because another party — the county’s administrative judge — failed to schedule a timely hearing.

“We find the plain meaning of this statute requires the chief administrative judge of the circuit court to schedule an initial hearing within ten days,” Thomas writes. “Our Legislature has not mandated a requirement that a party filing a FOIA action be the party responsible for scheduling an initial hearing and we decline to impose such a requirement.”

“(W)e find the purpose of the ten-day requirement was to expedite resolution, not to erect a procedural barrier,” the court ruled. “We find the legislative history of South Carolina’s FOIA indicates amendments have generally been in favor of, not against, requesters.”

The decision means a Richland County court will have to review The State’s complaint against the school district once again.